Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am not real familiar with Bearded Dragons as I have Iguanas
but a friend mentioned that she may be looking for a home
for her 1 1/2 year old. She is a great pet owner but says
that it is very expensive as hers eats about 2 dozen crickets
a day??? This seems like a lot to me and this would get
expensive.

Your comments as Beardie owners?

Thanks

no it does not seem excessive, i own two 9 month old beardies and they eat 25 crickets a day each.. so my total bill at the end of the week is about 35 bucks. but you can ween the beardies and only serve them crickets a couple times a week.

I never imagined it cost that much. All of my reptiles
are mainly herbivores so I only spend at the very most $10
a week on food for them. I have: 2 Iguanas,
1 tortoise, 2 RES and 2 Painted turtles (turtles eat pellets too)

Thanks for the info

Do you order crix online? YOu can get 1,000 (40 days worth according to your feeding sched.) shipped to your door for about $25. That would save you about $115/mo.
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2.0.0 water dragons, 2.2 crested geckos, 0.0.3 turtles, 1.0.0 5-line skink, 2.0.0 anoles, 0.0.1 giant millipede, 1.0.0 uromastyx, 1.0.0 armadillo lizard, 1.0.0 veiled chameleon, 1.1.0 bearded dragons, 1.0.0 pictus gecko, 1.1.0 CA banded gecko, 1.0.0 Hondo, 1.1.0 corns, 1.0.0 ball python, 0.0.2 red-leg walking frogs, 1.0.0 dog, 1.1.0 cats, 0.1.0 wife, 2 SW tanks - 20H, 55

buying in bulk (1000) saved us soooo much money. One order lasted about a month...I purchased them at 1/2 inch so I could feed them off before too many had wings.

I now raise my own silkworms--no noise and very healthy--plus it is easy to do...the only expense is the chow...our adult beardies get a few silkworm about 3 times a week if you hatch out small batches the food cost will be about $10 a month...if you ACCIDENTLY leave 1000 eggs out at room temperature your food cost will be $50 a month (lol we are going through this now!--I made sure I only set out 50 or so this month!)

One of our beardies LOVES pellets the other will not touch them...

DM

A one and half year old dragon doesn't need to eat crickets every day. Cut the feedings of insects to about 2-3 times a week, with fresh mixed greens offered every day.
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PHLdyPayne

I havn't fed my beardies crix in a couple months. Instead they get mixes of greens and pellets. Crix are just calories so those dragons are not getting the proper nutrition. Even if she dusts them. She needs to slowly wean them off. That seems like a crappy excuse to get rid of a beardie, but if she is that uninformed the dragon needs to go to another home anyway. I'm a college kid with a little and close to no money and my two girls are not expensive at all except their UV light.
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*~*Erin*~*
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -Bearded Dragons- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
0.2 Bailey and Mia -Degus- June 1, 2005

She states that her Beardie doesn't really like anything
but the crickets. It seems that others on here feed alot
of crickets too.

Is the diet of greens and pellets sufficient for them?

Greens and pellets is the best for dragons plus the calcium and vitamins. I feel sorry for beardies that just get to eat pellets because they wouldnt taste all that great. Thats like eating green beans and corn your entire life. BORING!!! Crickets should not be fed as a staple food because they are just calories. Even if they are gut loaded. For great info on what to feed your dragon go to www.beautifuldragons.com
Tt's the best!
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*~*Erin*~*
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -Bearded Dragons- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
0.2 Bailey and Mia -Degus- June 1, 2005

Sounds like a poor excuse to do away with the expenses of crickets.

Linda, It doesn't have to be that expensive. I feed my dragons a mix of veggies and fruit, and they get a high quality dog food every third day, and roaches once a week. The veggies and fruit are only a couple of dollars, as is the dog food. The roaches.. well, you can breed your own easily enough.

Good luck
Aaron
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Happy Herping

Thank you! I was thinking about adopting a Beardie from
petfinder but I need to do some more research and decide if
he would be a good fit.

As I said I have iguanas and their needs are very different.
Below is one of my adopted iguanas. He is on the top shelf
on the far right under his light.

Linda